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Office of Vice President Biden Intelligence Briefing


*From:* Bulletin Intelligence <Biden@BulletinIntelligence.com>
*Sent:* Tuesday, September 4, 2018 7:50 AM
*To:* Biden@BulletinIntelligence.com
*Subject:* Office of Vice President Biden Intelligence Briefing for
Tuesday, September 4, 2018


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[image: Image removed by sender. Office of Vice President Biden
Intelligence Briefing]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=001-7c6&t=c>

*To: Vice President Joe Biden*

*Tuesday, September 4, 2018 8:00 AM EDT*
Today's Table of Contents

*Biden in the News <#SECTION_1>*

• Media Analyses: Biden Marches In Pittsburgh Parade As He Mulls 2020 Run.
<#S1>

• Biden: At Kavanaugh Hearing, Democrats Should “Stay In The Room, Demand
Answers.” <#S2>

• Biden To Campaign With NJ11 Hopeful Sherrill Tomorrow. <#S3>

• Politico: 2020 Democratic Prospects Focusing On South Carolina. <#S4>

• Politico’s Scher: Biden’s “Agility With Grief” Could Boost Him To
Presidency. <#S5>

*Leading the News <#SECTION_2>*

• Media Analyses: Trump Tweets Imply Sessions Should Consider Politics In
Prosecutions. <#S6>

*Foreign Policy <#SECTION_3>*

• Xi Pledges $60 Billion In Chinese Loans, Grants For Africa. <#S7>

• Trump Canceled Monday Outing For Calls “On Trade And Other International
Issues.” <#S8>

• Trump Warns Against Syrian Assault On Rebel-Held Idlib Province. <#S9>

• Asylum Seeker Says Disrespect To Islam Prompted Stabbings In Netherlands.
<#S10>

• Increased German Surveillance Of AfD Following Murders By Migrants. <#S11>

• Kremlin: US Spy Recruiting Efforts Prove Meddling In Russian Affairs.
<#S12>

• US Soldier Killed In Apparent Insider Attack In Afghanistan. <#S13>

*Domestic Policy <#SECTION_4>*

• Kavanaugh Hearings Begin Today; Democrats Demand Withheld Documents.
<#S14>

• Trump Fires Back At AFL-CIO’s Trumka: “Easy To See Why Unions Do So
Poorly.” <#S15>

• Pence: Republicans Will Return To ACA Repeal If Successful In Midterms.
<#S16>

• EPA Warns Of Health Risks Of Coal Plant Regulatory Rollback. <#S17>

• Local Officials: Immigrants Withdrawing From WIC For Fear Of Losing
Status. <#S18>

• WPost: Trump’s Rhetoric Changing How Americans Address Issues Of Race.
<#S19>

• CNN Shifts 11 House Seats Toward Democrats, Three Toward Republicans.
<#S20>

*Cancer Research <#SECTION_5>*

• NIH Gives TGen $2M Grant For Blood-Based Melanoma Monitoring Approach.
<#S21>

• Genetic Testing Helping Patients Stop Cancer. <#S22>

*Editorials/Op-Eds <#SECTION_6>*

• New York Times. <#S23>

• Washington Post. <#S24>
Biden in the News
Media Analyses: Biden Marches In Pittsburgh Parade As He Mulls 2020 Run.

Under the headline, “Will Joe Run? Biden Feels The Push To Take On Trump In
2020,” the AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=002-b13&t=c>
(9/3, Beaumont, Peoples) reports that former Vice President Joe Biden is
“conflicted,” but “listening keenly to the supporters pushing him to run
for the White House in 2020.” Biden is “convinced he can beat President
Donald Trump, friends and advisers say, and he has given himself until
January to deliberate and size up potential competition for the Democratic
nomination.” Jim Margolis, “a top adviser to Barack Obama’s 2008 and 2012
campaigns,” says Biden “would likely cast himself as a more centrist
Democrat with working-class appeal, bipartisan credentials and grounding in
a more civil political culture that has faded in the Trump era.” The AP
says Biden “hit those themes gently at a memorial service for his late
Senate colleague, Republican John McCain, last week.”

In a brief report, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=003-0d2&t=c>
(9/3, Tribune-Review) said, “Extreme temperatures didn’t hold back...Biden
at Pittsburgh’s 37th annual Labor Day parade or discourage Labor Day
celebrations around the region.” At the parade, Biden “was joined by
prominent Pennsylvania Democrats like US Sen. Bob Casey, US Rep. Conor
Lamb, Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto and Allegheny County Executive Rich
Fitzgerald.” The Tribune-Review said that Biden and Casey “plan[ned] to
make the rounds at union picnics scheduled after the parade.”

In an online article, WTAE-TV
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=004-0c5&t=c>
Pittsburgh (9/3, Mayo) reported, “While he delivered no speeches” during
the event, Biden “shared a public message as he left Mass at St. Benedict
the Moor Church before the parade. ‘We’re in a fight for the soul of
America. It’s about time we restored dignity to work. It’s about time we
started talking to each other like we’re civilized and deal with one
another with respect. That’s what this is about. That’s what labor’s
about,’ Biden said on the steps outside the church, with the United
Steelworkers union international president to his left.” WTAE-TV[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=005-1d8&t=c>
Pittsburgh (9/3) broadcast a clip of Biden making the remarks. The Daily
Caller
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=006-bdd&t=c>
(9/3, Johnson) described Biden’s remarks as “veiled jabs at President
Trump.”

In an online article, KDKA-TV
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=007-af6&t=c>
Pittsburgh (9/3, Delano) reported that following the parade, Biden “pressed
the flesh at the International Brotherhood of Electrical workers picnic on
the Southside.” KDKA-TV added, “With Biden hugging kids and working the
crowds for several hours, you can’t help wondering if he’s running for
president in 2020. ‘If I were to run for president, I’d be here a lot,’
laugh[ed] Biden, who already has a reputation for being here a lot.” In a
brief online article, KYW-TV
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=008-eae&t=c>
Philadelphia (9/3) reported that during the parade, Biden “heard from a
supporter who would like to see him make another run for the White House.
‘We need you brother, you can do this,’ said one Biden supporter. Biden
smiled and kept marching, but he later said if he was running for
President, he would be in Pittsburgh a lot.”

On its website, CNN
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=009-ab9&t=c>
(9/3, Berg) reported that “the timing of Biden’s appearance raised further
suspicions about his plans as he mulls another presidential bid in 2020, a
process that has seen the 75-year-old raise his public profile at political
events in recent months. As he marched and mingled Monday, union members
urged him to run, with Biden grinning noncommittally in response. He
literally did run, however – down the street through crowds of people, with
some cheering him on – prompting numerous puns on social media.” The Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=00a-3f3&t=c>
(9/3, Wise) highlighted a few reporters’ tweets about Biden running at the
parade. CNN’s Newsroom[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=00b-fc5&t=c>
(9/4) reported on Biden “running” at the parade.

On its website, NBC News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=00c-74b&t=c>
(9/3, Kamisar) reported that Biden, “whose roots run deep with the
Democratic labor movement, has begun campaigning for a handful of 2018
congressional candidates in recent months as one of the party’s
highest-profile surrogates.” Speaking “with NBC News’s Mike Memoli outside
of a church in Pittsburgh, Biden demurred when asked whether the parade
stop and other 2018 involvement could be considered an ‘audition’ for a
presidential bid. ‘It doesn’t mean anything for my political future. I’ve
known these guys my whole life,’ said Biden. ‘I’d go anywhere with these
guys. These are the guys that brought me to the dance, as the saying goes.
It’s called loyalty.’”

Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=00d-ca1&t=c>
(9/3, Dovere) reported that Biden marched in Pittsburgh’s Labor Day parade,
kicking “off what will be an intense, nine-week stretch of campaigning for
Democratic candidates in the midterms, but also an extended gut check of
whether the country has an appetite for another Biden run – and for him to
decide if he has the appetite to make one.” Ahead of this fall’s midterms,
Biden will “be all over the country – though deliberately, not to Iowa or
New Hampshire, to avoid the conversations that would prompt – tapping into
popularity that’s highest in precisely the parts of the country his party
needs to win. He’ll be the most in-demand, most active Democrat on the
trail, with the Clintons largely benched and Barack Obama limiting his own
appearances.”

Under the headline “Biden Kicks Off Midterm Campaign Effort At
Labor Day Parade,” NBC News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=00e-e72&t=c>
(9/4, Memoli) reported on its website that Biden “burst onto the stump
Monday surrounded by his brand of Democrats – thousands of union members
and the working class, Rust Belt voters that Biden has warned his party not
to turn its back on.” NBC News added that aides to Biden “spent the summer
collecting requests from Democratic candidates across the country to begin
mapping out what they say will be an active schedule in the midterm’s
closing weeks.”

The Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=00f-15b&t=c>
(9/3, Wise) reported Biden on Monday “said that ‘everything’ is at stake
for Democrats in the upcoming midterms. ‘Everything. It’s simple:
everything,’ Biden said in response to a question from” Politico’s
Edward-Isaac Dovere “on the importance of November’s general election.”
Dovere shared Biden’s response in a tweet. Breitbart
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=010-4b6&t=c>
(9/3, Key) and Newsweek
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=011-29e&t=c>
(9/3, Fink) also highlighted Dovere’s tweet of Biden’s response.
Broadcasting reports about Biden’s appearance at Pittsburgh’s Labor day
parade were WPXI-TV[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=012-12b&t=c>
Pittsburgh (9/3), WATM-TV[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=013-e67&t=c>
Altoona, PA (9/3), KDKA-TV[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=014-464&t=c>
Pittsburgh (9/3), WSEE-TV[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=015-a33&t=c>
Erie, PA (9/3), WVAH-TV[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=016-00d&t=c>
Charleston, WV (9/3), and WPHL-TV[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=017-e6f&t=c>
Philadelphia (9/3).

Under the headline “Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders And John Kerry Eye
White House Bids,” the Boston Herald
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=018-810&t=c>
(9/4, Cotter) reports, “Even as headlines of young, diverse Democrats
winning elections abound, the party’s cadre of septuagenarian white guys of
presidential elections past isn’t ready to rule out 2020 runs.” The Globe,
which draws from wire dispatches, says that “Biden, for example, is hearing
from plenty of supporters who would like to see the popular 75-year-old
politician make another run for the White House. On a recent flight from
Washington to New York, a string of passengers stopped at his seat to
deliver some version of the same message: Run, Joe, run. ‘We’re with you.’”
Biden: At Kavanaugh Hearing, Democrats Should “Stay In The Room, Demand
Answers.”

The Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=019-f0d&t=c>
(9/3, Jagoda) reported that former Vice President Joe Biden, speaking with
reporters in Pittsburgh on Sunday, “said that Democrats should be vigilant
during the upcoming confirmation hearing for President Trump’s nominee to
join the Supreme Court.” Biden, “a former chairman of the Senate Judiciary
Committee,” said, “Stay in the room, demand answers and keep pointing out
that they have not given the material that was expected to the committee.”
Breitbart
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=01a-c00&t=c>
(9/3, Lee) reported, “Some left-wing activists have been urging Senate
Democrats to walk out in protest because they feel Democrats have not had
enough time to review all of Kavanaugh’s documents, but Biden reportedly
said...that Democrats should ‘stay in the room, demand answers and keep
pointing out that they have not given the material that was expected to the
committee.’”
Biden To Campaign With NJ11 Hopeful Sherrill Tomorrow.

The New Jersey Globe
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=01b-ade&t=c>
(9/1, Wildstein) reported that former Vice President Joe Biden on Wednesday
is slated to visit New Jersey, where he’ll stump for on Wednesday to
campaign for “former US Navy helicopter pilot and federal prosecutor” Mikie
Sherrill (D-NJ), who is battling Assemblyman Jay Webber (R-NJ) in this
fall’s race to succeed retiring Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-MJ) in the
NJ11. The Globe said that Biden “endorsed Sherrill last April, before she
won the Democratic nominations nation. The former Vice President was
immensely popular in New Jersey. In a July 2015 Monmouth University poll,
Biden had approvals of 67%-17% in the Garden State.”
Politico: 2020 Democratic Prospects Focusing On South Carolina.

Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=01c-b2a&t=c>
(9/1, Siders) reported that “with the racially diverse Obama coalition
increasingly viewed as the key to the party’s future, the two early states
that have historically overshadowed South Carolina – Iowa and New Hampshire
– are suddenly looking outmoded to many Democrats,” and “the floodgates are
poised to open within weeks.” Politico added, “In early jockeying ahead of
the 2020 primary, Joe Biden, Deval Patrick and Eric Holder are all expected
to travel to South Carolina before November’s midterm elections. Kamala
Harris is likely to visit. Eric Garcetti is scheduled to return to the
state in late September, and Terry McAuliffe is hosting a fundraiser in
Washington for James Smith, South Carolina’s Democratic gubernatorial
nominee.”
Politico’s Scher: Biden’s “Agility With Grief” Could Boost Him To
Presidency.

In a piece for Real Clear Politics
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=01d-e91&t=c>
(9/3), Politico Magazine contributing editor Joe Scher said that former
Vice President Joe Biden’s “eulogy for Sen. John McCain was widely praised
for both its emotional eloquence and its political potency.” Biden “has
previously been dubbed ‘King of the Eulogy.’” Scher said Biden’s “agility
with grief may be what carries him to the White House in 2020. Not only has
Biden used eulogies to make political points about principled
bipartisanship, but he also routinely bares his soul – one all too often
wounded by family tragedy – to help others navigate their mourning.” Scher
added, “Part of the job of leader is to console in times of sadness, and
derive shared meaning from loss. No matter what lies next for Biden, we
could use more leaders who learn from his example.”

*Eskew: In McCain Eulogy, Biden’s Contrasts With Trump Were Clear. *In
a blog post, Carter Eskew wrote on the website of the Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=01e-202&t=c>
(8/31), “For those Democrats who like and respect Biden but have a hard
time seeing him as a viable nominee...it’s worth dissecting his” eulogy of
McCain “to reveal just how stark a contrast Biden might make with Trump and
see how his strengths match so well against Trump’s weaknesses.” Eskew said
Biden “is the ultimate ‘comforter in chief,’ a role Americans used to
expect from their presidents and one that Trump is preternaturally unable
and nearly always unwilling to play.” However, “the main alternative Biden
offered...to Trump was...in his fundamentally different view of America’s
character and purpose.” Biden “noted, in a clear but unspoken contrast with
Trump, ‘With John, it was a value set that was neither selfish nor
self-serving. John understood that America was first and foremost an idea.
Audacious and risky, organized around not tribe but ideals.’”
Leading the News
Media Analyses: Trump Tweets Imply Sessions Should Consider Politics In
Prosecutions.

Media reports are casting President Trump’s tweets Monday criticizing
Attorney General Sessions as unusually harsh and saying that Trump appears
to imply Sessions should consider the political ramifications of DOJ
prosecutions of politicians. Trump tweeted
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=01f-7dc&t=c>,
“Two long running, Obama era, investigations of two very popular Republican
Congressmen were brought to a well publicized charge, just ahead of the
Mid-Terms, by the Jeff Sessions Justice Department. Two easy wins now in
doubt because there is not enough time. Good job Jeff.....[continuing tweet
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=020-c46&t=c>]....The
Democrats, none of whom voted for Jeff Sessions, must love him now. Same
thing with Lyin’ James Comey. The Dems all hated him, wanted him out,
thought he was disgusting – UNTIL I FIRED HIM! Immediately he became a
wonderful man, a saint like figure in fact. Really sick!”

NBC Nightly News[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=021-472&t=c>
(9/3, story 3, 1:40, Snow) said Trump “launch[ed] a tweet storm” aimed at
Sessions, “slamming what he called the ‘Jeff Sessions Justice Department,’
which indicted Republican Congressman Duncan Hunter for misusing campaign
funds and Chris Collins for insider trading.” ABC World News Tonight[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=022-b61&t=c>
(9/3, story 4, 0:55, Llamas) noted that Collins and Hunter were “the first
two congressmen to endorse Trump’s candidacy.” To the Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=023-576&t=c>
(9/3, Dawsey), the tweets are “an unusually harsh salvo, even for a
president who sometimes expresses his thoughts on Twitter to the chagrin of
his staff.” According to the Post, “The tweet indicated that his attorney
general should base law enforcement actions on how it could affect the
president and the Republican Party’s electoral success,” and “also seemed
to indicate that electoral popularity should influence charges.” Along
those lines, the New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=024-470&t=c>
(9/3, Rogers, Benner) reports that while “Trump has frequently berated Mr.
Sessions and publicly questioned his judgment...until Monday, Mr. Trump had
not so overtly tied the Justice Department’s responsibility for pursuing
charges against alleged criminals with Republicans’ election prospects.”

Likewise, Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=025-a43&t=c>
(9/3, Forgey) says that while Trump “has made a habit of tweeting insults
at” Sessions, “Monday’s jabs marked an extraordinarily brazen suggestion by
the president that America’s chief law enforcement officer should have
weighted the political repercussions of the indictments against the basic
integrity of the US justice system.” Bloomberg News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=026-04b&t=c>
(9/3, Shields) says Trump “renewed his criticism of...Sessions,” Breitbart
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=027-4f5&t=c>
(9/3, Spiering) says he “angrily criticized” Sessions, and the Washington
Examiner
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=028-c9d&t=c>
(9/3, Giaritelli) says that he “publicly berated” Sessions, while the AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=029-226&t=c>
(9/3) says Trump “escalated his attacks...suggesting the Department of
Justice put Republicans in midterm jeopardy with recent indictments of two
GOP congressmen.” The AP says Trump’s “complaint fits with his pattern of
viewing the Department of Justice less as a law enforcement agency and more
as a department that is supposed to do his political bidding.”

To Axios
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=02a-754&t=c>
(9/3, Meier), “Trump is suggesting that political considerations should
have played a role in the prosecution of the two congressmen,” and the Los
Angeles Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=02b-c8a&t=c>
(9/3, King) reports that to Trump’s critics, the tweets represent “a brazen
call for Justice to intervene in criminal cases for political reasons,
reflecting a new benchmark in [Trump’s long-running campaign to undermine
the independence of law enforcement and the judiciary.” Rep. Ted Deutsch
(D-FL) said on CNN’s Situation Room[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=02c-240&t=c>
(9/3) that Trump’s tweet is “threatening the rule of law. It’s outrageous,
and anybody, anybody should be outraged by the President inserting himself
into the operation of the Justice Department in criminal proceedings.”

CBS News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=02d-84f&t=c>
(9/3, Watson), meanwhile, points out on its website that “the charges
against Collins were announced on Aug. 8 by Geoffrey Berman, the US
Attorney for the Southern District of New York and a Trump appointee,” and
Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=02e-c58&t=c>
(9/3, Price, Shepardson) says that “despite Trump’s claim that both
investigations began under Democratic President Barack Obama, Collins was
charged over trades in June 2017 – nearly six months after Trump took
office.” The New York Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=02f-e82&t=c>
(9/3, Fredericks) likewise notes that both investigations began during
Trump’s Administration.

The Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=030-526&t=c>
(9/3, Samuels) reports Trump “also inaccurately claimed no Democrats voted
to confirm Sessions, when Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) did vote in Sessions’s
favor.”
Foreign Policy
Xi Pledges $60 Billion In Chinese Loans, Grants For Africa.

The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=031-067&t=c>
(9/3) reports Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday “pledged $60 billion
in financing for projects in Africa in the form of assistance, investment
and loans, as China furthers efforts to link the continent’s economic
prospects to its own.” According to the AP, Xi, “speaking to a gathering of
African leaders in Beijing,” said the $60 billion “includes $15 billion in
grants, interest-free loans and concessional loans, $20 billion in credit
lines, $10 billion for ‘development financing’ and $5 billion to buy
imports from Africa. In addition, he said China will encourage companies to
invest at least $10 billion in Africa over the next three years.” Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=032-47f&t=c>
(9/3, Shepherd, Blanchard) says Xi “promised development that people on the
continent could see and touch, but that would also be green and
sustainable. ... China will carry out 50 projects on green development and
environmental protection in Africa, focusing on fighting climate change,
desertification and wildlife protection, Xi said. He pledged, without
giving details, that China would set up a peace and security fund and a
related forum, while continuing to provide free military assistance to the
African Union.”

The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=033-849&t=c>
(9/3, Fifield) reports that in 2015, Xi “also pledged $60 billion in
investment.” In his speech Monday, Xi said that money has “already been
granted or earmarked, so the latest announcement represented a second round
of $60 billion.” According to the Post, “At a time when President Trump is
picking trade fights with the United States’ neighbors and allies, the
Chinese leader has appeared to relish the opportunity to appear as a
popular international statesman and champion of the liberal economic
order.” The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=034-015&t=c>
(9/3, Noack) reports that Swaziland, “an absolute monarchy that has in
recent months renamed itself eSwatini,” was “absent from this week’s Africa
summit and appears to have no plans of attending anytime soon.” The Post
adds, “It’s the last African nation that still recognizes Taiwan as an
independent country, much to the dismay of the Chinese leadership in
Beijing, which considers Taiwan to be a wayward province.”

*China’s Overseas Spending Elicits Growing Domestic Backlash. *The Los
Angeles Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=035-d63&t=c>
(9/3, Dixon) reports Beijing’s “big spending in Africa and elsewhere faces
a growing domestic backlash, from leading academics to everyday Chinese on
social media websites.” That spending comes, “many Chinese note, while
there’s a doctor shortage, rampant pollution and people struggling to buy
medicines or get a decent education at home.” Chinese officials have also
“been on the defensive lately about criticisms, including Western
accusations, that Belt and Road projects could snare nations into
unsustainable debt, and a raft of senior officials from Xi down have been
at pains to defend the plan and promote its benefits.”
Trump Canceled Monday Outing For Calls “On Trade And Other International
Issues.”

Bloomberg News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=036-29b&t=c>
(9/3, Sink) reports that President Trump “abruptly canceled an outing on
Monday to place calls on trade...as he prepares to confront both China and
Canada this week. Reporters were summoned for the presidential motorcade
Monday morning, but shortly after Trump emerged from the White House
wearing golf attire, the trip was canceled and the press dismissed for the
day.” White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders later said via email, “The
president stayed at the White House to make calls specifically on trade and
other international issues.” Sanders “didn’t elaborate.” The Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=037-5f6&t=c>
(9/3, Samuels) headlines its brief report “Trump Abruptly Scraps Plans To
Leave White House On Labor Day.”

*WSJournal: Canada Trade Negotiations Will Test Trump Strategy. *In
an analysis, the Wall Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=038-7b9&t=c>
(9/3, Schlesinger, Vieira) says Trump’s negotiating strategy will be tested
this week as the White House resumes efforts to get Canada to agree to a
revised NAFTA. Trump posted tweets this weekend threatening to leave Canada
out of a new trade deal that includes Mexico. His supporters say such
hardball tactics have worked in trade talks with Europe and South Korea,
but critics say Trump may be hurting his ability to pass new trade
legislation at home with his attacks on Congress.

*Dairy Products A Key Issue In US-Canada Talks. *The Wall Street
Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=039-ca2&t=c>
(9/1, Haddon, Vieira) looks at the role of dairy products in US-Canada
trade negotiations. While the US had a $418 million trade surplus in the
category in 2017, the Trump Administration says Canada’s supply management,
which limits dairy imports and imposes steep tariffs in some cases, hurts
US dairy farmers.

*Axios Poll: 50% Back New NAFTA, But Only If Canada Included. *Axios
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=03a-8c1&t=c>
(9/3, Lawler) reports, “Americans are narrowly in favor of President
Trump’s renegotiation of NAFTA, but the balance swings the other way when
it comes to moving ahead on a deal that excludes Canada, according to a new
Axios/SurveyMonkey poll. ... Half of Americans support Trump’s proposed
NAFTA replacement, while 45% oppose it. But 49% oppose going ahead with it
if Canada doesn’t sign on, while 46% support it.”

*Washington Examiner: López Obrador “Wild Card” In Trade
Negotiations. *The Washington Examiner
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=03b-1b7&t=c>
(9/3, Higgins) says that Mexican President-elect Andrés Manuel López
Obrador, who will take office on December 1, is “a wild card” in Trump’s
pursuit of a “new NAFTA.” The Examiner says López Obrador was hoping a deal
involving Canada would advance before he took office so he “could claim not
to be part of the deal.” But delays could leave the “leftist and NAFTA
critic” in the “difficult position of deciding whether he will try to carry
the deal forward when takes office.”
Trump Warns Against Syrian Assault On Rebel-Held Idlib Province.

President Trump warned in a Monday tweet
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=03c-5d6&t=c>,
“President Bashar al-Assad of Syria must not recklessly attack Idlib
Province. The Russians and Iranians would be making a grave humanitarian
mistake to take part in this potential human tragedy. Hundreds of thousands
of people could be killed. Don’t let that happen!”

According to Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=03d-0fe&t=c>
(9/3), “Syrian government forces are planning a phased offensive in Idlib
and surrounding areas held by insurgents fighting Assad, who has been
backed by both Russian and Iranian forces in the country’s conflict.”
Secretary of State Pompeo “has said Washington views any government assault
on Idlib as an escalation of Syria’s war, and the State Department warned
that Washington would respond to any chemical attack by Damascus.” In a
statement, Assad’s office asserted that “the pressures from some Western
states on Syria and Tehran will not deter the two countries from continuing
to defend their principles.” Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif,
who met with Assad, Syrian Prime Minister Imad Khamis, and Syrian Foreign
Minister Walid al-Muallem in Damascus on Monday, stressed that “the
remaining terrorists in the remaining parts of Idlib must be cleaned out
and the region should be placed back under the control of the Syrian
people.” [image: Image removed by sender. Video]Fox News’ Special Report
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=03e-fca&t=c>
(9/3) showed Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov saying, “This is the
main problem about Idlib. In this area it was marked the de-escelation
zone. There must be separation between armed opposition and terrorists.”

The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=03f-01c&t=c>
(9/3, Aji) reports Zarif’s visit “comes days before the leaders of Iran,
Turkey, and Russia are expected to meet in Iran to discuss the situation in
Idlib.” Meanwhile, thousands of Syrian “government troops and allied
fighters have been massing in areas surrounding the province.” Moscow and
Damascus have accused Western countries of “preparing to carry out strikes
against Syria ahead of the Idlib offensive” as “part of the west’s attempt
to undermine Syria’s drive to restore control over all its territories.”
Asylum Seeker Says Disrespect To Islam Prompted Stabbings In Netherlands.

[image: Image removed by sender. Video]ABC World News Tonight
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=040-8b7&t=c>
(9/3, story 6, 0:25, Llamas) reported Dutch prosecutors have released “new
details” about the 19-year-old Afghan asylum seeker accused of stabbing two
American tourists at an Amsterdam train station on Friday. The alleged
assailant told prosecutors that “he launched his attack in the Netherlands
because he believes it treats Islam disrespectfully,” although “he did not
know his victims were American.” The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=041-c15&t=c>
(9/3, Corder) reports Dutch prosecutors said in a statement that “it is
clear” the suspect “had a terrorist motive” and “apparent from his
statements that he believes that in the Netherlands, the Prophet Muhammad,
the Quran, Islam and Allah are repeatedly insulted.” According to the
prosecutors, “the young Afghan man specifically mentioned Dutch lawmaker
Geert Wilders, who is well known for his fierce anti-Islam rhetoric” and
last week “called off a planned contest for cartoons of the Prophet
Muhammad following death threats and concerns other people could be put at
risk.”

Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=042-37e&t=c>
(9/3, Sterling) reports the prosecutors’ statement said the suspect “named
Wilders, but did not say anything about the cartoon competition.”
Meanwhile, the two American victims, “both 38-year-old men, are still being
treated in hospital, while the stabber, who was shot and wounded by police,
was also being treated while his custody was extended for two weeks on
Monday.”
Increased German Surveillance Of AfD Following Murders By Migrants.

The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=043-2d8&t=c>
(9/3, Noelting, Jordans) reports that the German government will “step up
surveillance of the far-right Alternative for Germany amid growing concern
the third-largest party in parliament is closing ranks with extremist
groups.” According to the AP, “Activists for AfD, the nationalist party’s
German acronym, marched in the eastern city of Chemnitz alongside leading
figures in anti-migrant group PEGIDA and members of the area’s militant
neo-Nazi scene in the past week, after two refugees were arrested in a
German citizen’s fatal stabbing.” Justice Minister Katarina Barley is
quoted as saying, “Parts of AfD are openly acting against the Constitution.
We need to treat them like other enemies of the Constitution and observe
them accordingly.”

Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=044-140&t=c>
(9/3, Shalal) reports that “about 6,000 supporters of the AfD and the
anti-Islam PEGIDA group turned out to a series of protests in the eastern
city of Chemnitz after a man was stabbed to death there last weekend,
allegedly by two immigrants.” Reuters adds, “Skinheads clashed with police
soon after a Syrian and an Iraqi were identified as the main suspects, and
a number of xenophobic attacks were reported, exposing bitter divisions
over Chancellor Angela Merkel’s liberal immigration policy.” Reuters goes
on to report that “the states of Lower Saxony and Bremen said their
regional security services, tasked with policing unconstitutional activity,
had placed their respective regional chapters of Young Alternative, the
largest opposition party’s youth wing, under surveillance because of its
suspected ties.”

However, the New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=045-8fc&t=c>
(9/3, Eddy) reports that Horst Seehofer, “Germany’s highest security
official, rejected the calls” for surveillance of AfD, “saying he did not
see sufficient grounds for monitoring the party.” The Times adds, “The
political debate came amid more anger on Monday over the sentencing of a
young migrant, believed to be from Afghanistan, to eight and a half years
in prison for killing his 15-year-old German ex-girlfriend, in a case that
became a flash point for fears over immigration.” According to the Times,
“Many people, particularly those on the anti-immigrant right, condemned the
penalty as too lenient.”

*Former Diplomat Warns Trump May Push Germany Toward Russia, China.
*Munich Security Conference Chairman Wolfgang Ischinger, a former German
ambassador to the US, told Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=046-cea&t=c>
(9/3, Barkin) that the longer President Trump “remains in office, the
harder it will be to stand up to those in this country and elsewhere in
Europe who have been arguing since the Vietnam war that we need to cut the
cord with America the bully.” Ischinger predicted that it will “become much
harder for the German government to stay the course and defend this
relationship,” and “the forces calling for a closer relationship with
countries like Russia or China might be emboldened.” He “expressed
particular concern about Trump’s use of sanctions as a foreign policy tool,
and his threat to punish German and other firms involved in the Nord Stream
2 pipeline project with Russia.” Ischinger also “praised [German Chancellor
Angela] Merkel for spelling out the need for Germany to become more
independent but said it was high time that her words were translated into
action.”
Kremlin: US Spy Recruiting Efforts Prove Meddling In Russian Affairs.

Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=047-a71&t=c>
(9/3, Tsvetkova) reports Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded Monday
to a New York Times article
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=048-252&t=c>
that “said the F.B.I. and US Justice Department had tried unsuccessfully to
recruit Russian aluminum tycoon Oleg Deripaska as an informer between 2014
and 2016.” Peskov told reporters, “The fact is that the United States in
recent years is working crudely using its intelligence services, trying to
recruit Russian citizens, exerting moral and other pressure on them.... I
think these incidents in the most eloquent manner testify to the attempts
to interfere in Russia’s internal affairs.” The New York Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=049-c34&t=c>
(9/3, Fredericks) says with Peskov’s remarks, the Kremlin “turned the
tables on the US – accusing Washington and America’s intelligence community
of meddling in Russia’s internal affairs.”

*New TV Show About Putin Launches As His Popularity Falls. *Wolf
Blitzer reported on CNN’s Situation Room[image: Image removed by sender.
Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=04a-1ca&t=c>
(9/3) that Russian President Vladimir Putin is “trying to boost his falling
popularity at home with a new TV show.” CNN’s Brian Todd said that the new
weekly show, titled, “Moscow, Kremlin, Putin,” depicts Putin “as Russia’s
renaissance president, able to tend to the government’s most crucial
functioning while visiting a mine, engaging with children or listening to
music.” Todd added that it is “classic propaganda to elevate...Putin and
humanize him at a time when he’s under increasing fire from his own public”
over his plan to raise the minimum age when Russians can begin collecting
the pensions.
US Soldier Killed In Apparent Insider Attack In Afghanistan.

[image: Image removed by sender. Video]ABC World News Tonight
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=04b-23e&t=c>
(9/3, story 5, 0:15, Llamas) reported US military officials confirmed one
US soldier “was killed and another wounded” in an “apparent insider attack”
in Afghanistan. ABC and [image: Image removed by sender. Video]NBC Nightly
News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=04c-2de&t=c>
(9/3, story 5, 0:20, Snow) said the fatality brings the total number of US
soldiers killed in Afghanistan this year to six. Lucas Tomlinson reported
on [image: Image removed by sender. Video]Fox News’ Special Report
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=04d-382&t=c>
(9/3) that the incident also marks “the second time in two months a US
servicemember [was] apparently killed by the very same Afghan forces he was
there to train.” In a statement announcing the latest death, Gen. Scott
Miller, the new head of US forces in Afghanistan, said that the “sacrifice
of our servicemember who volunteered for a mission to Afghanistan to
protect his country is a tragic loss. Our duty now is to honor him, care
for his family, and continue our mission.”

Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=04e-c2f&t=c>
(9/3) says insider attacks “have been a regular feature of the conflict in
Afghanistan, although their frequency has diminished in recent years.”
Likewise, the Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=04f-fc0&t=c>
(9/3, Salahuddin) reports that insider attacks “have sharply gone down in
recent years in Afghanistan since the drastic reduction of foreign troops
in the country.” Bloomberg News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=050-2b5&t=c>
(9/3, Najafizada) also covers the attack.

*CIA Contractor Killed In Afghanistan Laid To Rest At Arlington. *In
a 2,000-word, front-page story, the Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=051-d7c&t=c>
(9/3, A1, Shapira) profiles George “Alexi” Whitney, a CIA contractor who
was killed in Afghanistan in December 2016 and who was laid to rest at
Arlington National Cemetery in July. Because he was no longer in the
Marines at the time of his death, his family “needed special permission for
his remains to be buried underground, rather than in the columbarium.”
Whitney “is among a tiny group of CIA contractors killed in the longest war
in U.S. history.”
Domestic Policy
Kavanaugh Hearings Begin Today; Democrats Demand Withheld Documents.

Media reports previewing the start today of confirmation hearings for
Supreme Court Justice-designate Brett Kavanaugh highlight highlighted
Democratic claims that the White House is withholding documents related to
his work for the George W. Bush Administration.

All three networks last night previewed the hearings. NBC Nightly
News[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=052-5b8&t=c>
(9/3, story 4, 0:45, Snow) reported that “a defining moment starts tomorrow
with the confirmation hearing for Judge Brett Kavanaugh for the Supreme
Court. In the spotlight: the battle over abortion rights, voting rights and
the limits of presidential power.” As the hearings get underway, “Democrats
are slamming the Trump Administration for withholding more than 100,000
documents,” which they argue “are protected by executive privilege.” The CBS
Evening News[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=053-ac3&t=c>
(9/3, story 2, 1:50, DuBois) likewise reported that as the hearings get
underway, “Senate Democrats are demanding the White House turn over a vast
collection of documents related to Kavanaugh’s past government work, but
the answer has been no.” CBS (Reid) said Kavanaugh “has an extensive paper
trail from his decades in public service,” but the White House is
“withholding 100,000 pages, citing presidential privilege.” Sen. Amy
Klobuchar “claims withholding these documents is highly unusual, and it
raised alarm bells among Democrats, who said such documents provide context
into an important part of Kavanaugh’s career.”

Referring to it as a “political storm brewing on Capitol Hill,” ABC
World News Tonight[image: Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=054-a12&t=c>
(9/3, story 3, 2:50, Llamas) said “Democrats are making it clear they will
not go easy on the President’s Supreme Court nominee. Now accusing the
White House of withholding key information” about “Kavanaugh’s time as a
close aid to President George W. Bush. Sen. Chuck Schumer tweeting
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=055-9b7&t=c>,
‘It has all the makings of a coverup.’”

The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=056-7c7&t=c>
(9/3, Barbash, Kim), meanwhile, reports that “hours before the start” of
today’s, “the lawyer for former president George W. Bush turned over 42,000
pages of documents from the nominee’s service in the Bush White House,
angering...Schumer, who issued what is certain to be a futile call to delay
the proceedings.” Schumer tweeted
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=057-ee2&t=c>
Monday night, “Not a single senator will be able to review these records
before tomorrow.” According to the Post, “no information was released on
the subject matter of the documents, and Bush’s lawyer asked that they be
kept from the public, made available only to committee members and staff.”

Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=058-1d6&t=c>
(9/3, Schor) says that “with Kavanaugh considered likely to win
confirmation absent a major misstep, Democrats must keep pushing against
long odds while carving out an upside to potential defeat.” But “even if
Democrats can’t quash Kavanaugh’s confirmation,” Politico says, “they know
they’ll have to walk away from the fight with the minor victory of
weakening Kavanaugh’s public persona and forcing Republicans to come up
with the votes to approve him before a single one of their members comes
off the fence.” Along the those lines, the New York Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=059-56a&t=c>
(9/3, Schultz) reports Democrats are “vowing a grilling that produces
‘sparks.’” The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=05a-dbc&t=c>
(9/3, Barnes) says Kavanaugh’s chances for confirmation chances “are very
good,” but “that assumes there are no surprises at the hearing, or in the
weeks following, as senators prepare to vote.”

USA Today
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=05b-7cc&t=c>
(9/3, Wolf) reports that since Kavanaugh was nominated, his “judicial
record and legal philosophy has gotten lost amid disputes over his partisan
past and withheld documents,” but during this week’s hearings “those
controversies probably will take a back seat to issues affecting millions
of Americans: Abortion. Guns. Health care. And, inevitably, the president
himself.” The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=05c-181&t=c>
(9/3) likewise says that “Kavanaugh’s views on the biggest legal issues of
the day are expected to be mined for the conservative judge’s approach to
the law. Abortion, executive power, campaign finance reform, regulatory
oversight and gun violence are among the many topics senators in particular
are preparing to probe.” The Wall Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=05d-e93&t=c>
(9/3, A1, Kendall) reports on its front page that both sides are expected
to focus on whether Kavanaugh would stand firm with precedents set by
landmark rulings or whether he would be willing to overturn them.

The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=05e-f1d&t=c>
(9/3, Stolberg) reports that “two wildly different portraits of...Kavanaugh
are set to emerge on Tuesday when he appears on Capitol Hill for the
opening of his Supreme Court confirmation hearings. One is a champion for
women; the other a threat to women’s rights.” Republicans, the Times says,
“will present Judge Kavanaugh to the nation...as an advocate and mentor for
women in the judiciary,” citing his 2009 ruling in favor of Emily’s List.
Democrats, however, “will tell an entirely different story, painting Judge
Kavanaugh as a far-right extremist who would roll back abortion rights.”

The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=05f-b9e&t=c>
(9/3) editorializes that “given the ongoing investigation by special
counsel Robert S. Mueller III, it is a distinct possibility that the
Supreme Court will have to rule on questions relating to a criminal probe
involving the president. Moreover, it is likely that Mr. Trump knew about
Mr. Kavanaugh’s views when he nominated him. If Mr. Kavanaugh were to cast
a decisive vote favoring Mr. Trump, it would appear as though the president
put him on the court to do just that.” The Post argues that during his
confirmation, Kavanaugh should “explain why he would or would not recuse
himself if such a case came before him.”

Emily Bazelon, a staff writer at The New York Times Magazine, and
Eric Posner, a professor at the University of Chicago Law School, write in
a New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=060-25a&t=c>
(9/3) op-ed that “Kavanaugh’s supporters call him an originalist rather
than the pro-business Republican he is because of the theory’s claim that
it separates law from politics. As the gap between originalism and the
greater goals of conservative jurisprudence widens, however, the claim that
the Supreme Court stands above the political fray, already damaged, will
become harder to sustain.”

Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=061-737&t=c>
(9/3) columnist Charles Lane examines Kavanaugh’s role in the case that was
ultimately the 2012 Supreme Court case National Federation of Independent
Business v. Sebelius, the ruling on Obamacare’s individual mandate. In a
opinion “dissenting from his court’s 2-to-1 decision in November 2011
upholding the individual mandate,” Lane says Kavanaugh “not only
convincingly, and comprehensibly, parsed arcane tax law,” but “also evinced
a seasoned understanding of governmental processes.” Lane argues that
Kavanaugh’s opinion on the individual mandate “provides hope that he at
least understands the costs — legal and, yes, political — of precipitous
judicial action. Given the apparent inevitability of his confirmation,
that’s better than no hope at all.”

*In New Hampshire, Sanders Blasts Trump, Kavanaugh. *Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=062-3d3&t=c>
(9/3, Siders) reported that Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) on Monday “lit into
President Donald Trump and his most recent Supreme Court nominee on the eve
of Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings, calling Trump a ‘pathological
liar’ who ‘works night and day on behalf of his fellow billionaires.’ ‘And
most reprehensible, we have a president who is not doing what almost every
president in American history has done: When you make it into the Oval
Office, you understand you’ve got a sacred responsibility to bring the
American people together,’” Sanders “told a crowd at an AFL-CIO Labor Day
breakfast in Manchester, New Hampshire. ‘Today we have a president who for
cheap political reasons is trying to divide us up.’” Of Kavanaugh, Sanders
said, “I have no doubt that if he is selected, put into the Supreme Court,
the nominee will be an anti-worker justice. He will also be an anti-woman
justice. We should call him out.”
Trump Fires Back At AFL-CIO’s Trumka: “Easy To See Why Unions Do So Poorly.”

Media outlets are drawing attention to President Trump’s tweet
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=063-629&t=c>
from Monday morning criticizing AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. Wrote
Trump, “Richard Trumka, the head of the AFL-CIO, represented his union
poorly on television this weekend. Some of the things he said were so
against the working men and women of our country, and the success of the
U.S. itself, that it is easy to see why unions are doing so poorly. A Dem!”

USA Today
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(9/3, Groppe) says Trump “began Labor Day by criticizing the head of the
country’s largest federation of labor unions,” while the AP
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(9/3) reports that Trump’s “attack came after Trumka appeared on ‘Fox News
Sunday’ over the weekend where he said efforts to overhaul the North
American Free Trade Agreement should include Canada.” On Saturday, Trump
tweeted
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that “there was ‘no political necessity’ to keep Canada in NAFTA.” During
his appearance on Fox News, Reuters
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(9/3, Price) reports, in addition to having “questioned Trump’s Saturday
tweet,” Trumka “cited changes to the tax code that encourage companies to
outsource jobs, the administration’s failure to produce an infrastructure
program, and its overturning of regulations, including some protecting
health and safety.” Townhall
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(9/3, Barkoukis) reports that when Fox News host Chris Wallace “pushed back
and brought up the current state of the economy and the unemployment rate,
arguing that Trump deserves credit,” Trumka countered, “Those are good, but
wages have been down since the first of the year. Gas prices have been up
since the first year. So overall, workers aren’t doing as well.”

To the Washington Post
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(9/3, Stein), Trump’s tweet Monday is “escalating the feud between the
administration and organized labor amid crucial negotiations for both sides
over the North American Free Trade Agreement.” The Hill
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(9/3, Wise), meanwhile, notes that “Trumka has praised Trump in the past
for his stance on US trade policies, but has also called the president a
disappointment,” charging that Trump has “used his office to actively hurt
working people.” Politico
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(9/3, Behsudi) reports that “US labor unions and...Trump have always had
one thing in common: a mutual hatred for the North American Free Trade
Agreement.” And despite Trumka’s criticism, “behind the scenes, some union
officials are lavishing praise on US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer
for adopting their suggestions — a stark change from the icy relationship
on trade that developed between labor unions and the Obama administration.”

*Politico: Trump Has Rolled Back Worker Safety Rules. *Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=06c-b98&t=c>
(9/3, Kullgren) reports that when Trump came into office “pledging to cut
regulations ‘massively,’ he made a point of exempting regulations that
protected workers’ health. But almost two years in, the Trump
administration has done the opposite, rolling back worker safety
protections affecting underground mine safety inspections, offshore oil
rigs and line speeds in meat processing plants, among others.” Politico
says the moves are “at odds with his public stance as a champion of working
class Americans.”

*Trump Touts Economy In Labor Day Tweet. *Trump also tweeted
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yesterday morning, “Happy Labor Day! Our country is doing better than ever
before with unemployment setting record lows. The U.S. has tremendous
upside potential as we go about fixing some of the worst Trade Deals ever
made by any country in the world. Big progress being made!” The Hill
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(9/3, Wise) says the tweet “comes amid tense, ongoing trade negotiations
between the US and Canada – ne otiations in which Trump reportedly has said
he would not compromise at all.” Trump also retweeted
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a message from Press Secretary Sarah Sanders, who wrote
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“Our economy is booming, millions are working again, and our country is
back on the right track thanks to President @realDonaldTrump’s policies.
Happy Labor Day!” Trump wrote in his retweet, “The U.S. is respected
again!”

*NYTimes: Strong Economy Has Mainly Boosted Wealthy Areas. *The New
York Times
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(9/3, Robertson, Tankersley, Sabbatini) reports that while the economy has
grown since President Trump took office, the growth “has not helped
everywhere. It has lifted wealthy areas...which were already growing before
he took office,” and has left “the most economically troubled swaths of the
country, the ones that Mr. Trump promised to revitalize, waiting for their
share of the good times.” The Times says this “divide is pronounced between
the high- and low-income counties that helped deliver Mr. Trump the White
House.” The “most prosperous Trump-supporting counties...added jobs at
about a 2 percent annual rate in 2017,” while the least prosperous “did not
add any new jobs.”

*WSJournal A1: Economy Not Booming In Number Of Competitive
GOP-Held Seats. *On its front page, the Wall Street Journal
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(9/3, A1, Hughes, Chinni) says the strong economy may not be boosting the
GOP as much as expected in this year’s midterm elections. While the economy
is performing well in some Republican-held battleground districts, many
GOP-held competitive districts are not doing as well, or may be concerned
about the impact of tariffs.
Pence: Republicans Will Return To ACA Repeal If Successful In Midterms.

The Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=073-859&t=c>
(8/31, Sullivan) reported Vice President Mike Pence said Thursday that
Republicans will continue efforts “to fully repeal and replace ObamaCare,”
if the party is successful in the midterm elections. Pence added that the
Administration is still “taking every step that we can through
administration action and through regulatory policy to encourage innovation
in health care to lower the cost of health care.” According to the Hill,
“Democrats jumped on the comments,” arguing that a GOP alternative “raises
costs and eliminates protections.”

*Krugman: Republicans Will Repeal ACA If They Win Midterms. *Paul
Krugman writes in his column in the New York Times
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(9/3) that “John McCain spent most of his last decade being a very orthodox
Republican,” but “redeemed much of that record with one action: He cast the
crucial vote against G.O.P. attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act.”
Krugman adds, “if Republicans hold Congress in November, they will indeed
repeal Obamacare.” Krugman also says that Republicans “can’t come up with
an alternative to the Affordable Care Act because no such alternative
exists.” That’s because, he argues, “Obamacare is the most conservative
option for covering pre-existing conditions.”
EPA Warns Of Health Risks Of Coal Plant Regulatory Rollback.

The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=075-507&t=c>
(9/3, Knickmeyer, Raby) reports that according to an EPA analysis,
President Trump’s plan to roll back “Obama-era pollution controls on
coal-fired power plants...would kill an extra 1.4 to 2.4 people a year for
every 100,000 people” in the “hardest-hit areas” like northern West
Virginia and southern Pennsylvania. The analysis says the plan “would lead
to thousands more heart attacks, asthma problems and other illnesses that
would not have occurred.”

*Entomologists Criticize Fish And Wildlife Service’s Review Of
Beetle’s Endangered Status. *The Washington Post
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(9/3, Grandoni) reports that two entomologists who had been invited by the
US Fish and Wildlife Service “to help it assess the threat farming posed”
to the American burying beetle, stopped their cooperation “worried the
government may use their research to unduly downplay the threat big
business poses” to the beetle. Wyatt Hoback, a professor of entomology at
Oklahoma State University, said, “It felt like the Fish and Wildlife
Service wanted to conclude that agriculture is not a risk to the beetle and
were going to use the data in a way that made that conclusion, no matter
what.” Douglas Leasure, the other entomologist,” agreed.” The beetle was
listed as endangered in 1989.
Local Officials: Immigrants Withdrawing From WIC For Fear Of Losing Status.

Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018090401biden&r=email-f07c&l=077-efe